When word spread earlier this week that J. Crew, the catalog and clothing retailer, was leaving its bridal business at the altar, the reaction was one of collective dismay.

The company, which introduced its bridal line in 2004, originally positioned its offerings in this field as a financially savvy solution for brides-to-be who did not wish to, or could not, spend thousands of dollars on a wedding dress.

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Offerings inside the J. Crew bridal boutique.CreditElizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

In time, the company expanded its line and came to define a new bridesmaid aesthetic. Gone were the outdated taffeta fiascos. Instead, J. Crew ushered in an alternative vision of bridesmaids dressing by offering several styles in specific colors and fabrics so women could match but still pick the dress most flattering to their figure.

“It’s sad,” said Sera Hwang of Apex, N.C., a pharmaceutical services company founder. “It was a good option for weddings because it’s convenient and it’s a brand you already know.” When looking for bridesmaids dresses for her brother’s wedding in August 2014 at the Rockleigh, an event site in New Jersey, Ms. Hwang, 35, recalled shopping at a J. Crew store in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.

“I liked how you could get different styles and how you could shop for your bridesmaid dress, but also just shop in general,” she said. She ended up spending $300 for a coral pink number with pockets in the skirt. “If you wanted to, it was well-made enough that you could wear it again,” she said.

Along with BHLDN, the wedding collection of Anthropologie, J. Crew shook up the industry with an indie approach to the stiff bridal market.

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A J. Crew bridal look.CreditElizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

In a 2011 article in the wedding pages of The Times, Tom Mora, the head of women’s designs at J. Crew at the time, said that brides-to-be “know that they are getting a gown that is comparable to a designer gown at a more approachable price,” noting that some brides had begun pairing the company’s less expensive gown with family heirlooms, like veils and jewelry, while others chose high-end accessories.

Beth Sterling, now 36 and a stay-at-home mother in South Orange, N.J., has fond memories of wedding-dress shopping ahead of her elopement. She went to J. Crew’s Madison Avenue bridal store (which was converted to a general J. Crew location about three years ago).

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A selection of J. Crew bridal accessories.CreditElizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

“I didn’t have a lot of time to plan, I went into the boutique on a whim,” Ms. Sterling said. “I bought this shimmery taupe design that was actually a bridesmaid dress.” Ms. Sterling styled the dress with her own pearl necklace, a family heirloom, and matching earrings. (Her wife wore white at their beachfront event in San Diego.)

“I’ve been telling my friends about it over the years,” Ms. Sterling said. “It was so easy and so reasonably priced. I spent like $350. And when I went into the store, they were so nice and so welcoming that it made me feel a little special even though I was eloping.”

As for J. Crew’s bridesmaids business, the company may have become a victim of its own success in promoting a mix-and-match approach. Its increasingly sophisticated customers, armed with Pinterest boards and the like, quickly embraced this look. In a 2013 article, Mr. Mora noted that in a single bridal party, “there are some who really step out with mixed colors and mixed dresses,” suggesting, for example, differing pastels for a summer wedding.

And as bridesmaids’ attire came to look more like cocktail party attire, the need for a bridesmaids-only line may have waned. (A J. Crew spokeswoman who confirmed that the brand is moving away from traditional bridal gowns and bridesmaids dresses also added that it is reintroducing a dress collection in the spring.)

J. Crew does not disclose financial statistics on its bridal lines, but like a wedding budget, the decision to close the bridal line likely came down to numbers. As reported on its website, for the first half of fiscal 2016, the retailer’s overall sales were down 6 percent, and that came on top of a slide in sales in 2015. At that time, it was Mr. Mora who was removed (he was replaced by Somsack Sikhounmuong). Now it’s an entire collection.